The “Young Conservative Problem” is Current Conservatives’ Fault

The most influential force on young people deciding on whether or not to be conservative is the behavior of current conservatives.

I read, and reread several times with interest, a piece in National Review by Isaac Schorr entitled “ A Wake-Up Call for Conservatives “ and subtitled “Millennials and Generation Z show no sign of growing more conservative over time like the Boomers did. We must address the age gap.” After citing statistics to the point, he lays out two conclusions:

These results should lead the conservatives interpreting them to two distressing, but hopefully motivating, conclusions.

The first conclusion is an obvious one: A college education is a not-so-golden ticket to a worldview that embraces the premises of the Left. This may be a seemingly self-evident truth to conservatives, but there are those who deny it. This poll makes it obvious that time spent on a campus — being governed by progressive administrators, being taught by progressive faculty, and most important, living amongst progressive peers — tends to turn you into a much more progressive person. Conservatives are quick to complain about this phenomenon, but it’s very possible that we underestimate its consequences…